Leica M240 series battery scarcity

[Archiver]

240 series production number is so minuscule, no commercial interest to mock it in China.
M8/9 is the only ones made in significant numbers to mock their batteries, so far.
If where is any common battery across M, Q and SL this might be the chance, if not already.

But best digiLeica made in this regards is Q. Non-proprietary batteries.

The Panasonic batteries used in the Q are one factor in favour of buying a secondhand Q when I am able/willing. Aftermarket Panasonic batteries are plentiful and inexpensive, and a local company called BetterBatt makes a wide range of batteries including for the Panasonic S1/S1R/S1H, which all seem to have sold in quantities sufficient for aftermarket involvement.

I sincerely hope the compatibility of the same batteries across SL2/SL2S/SL3/SL3S/Q3 means that aftermarket batteries will soon be available. If I go down that path, I'll certainly need spares.

Some months after the M9 was released, I sucked it up and bought two spare batteries, all of which are still working. I regularly cycle through them to keep them active and alive, and I feel set for future years of shooting with the M9.

 

[Archiver]

I have to see of the M-mount bayonets can work on Sony's. If there is one I will really be unhappy.

Later. E-mount lens so I can use the two A7M III lenses and with my A7 adapter for M-mount use all the M-mount lenses. Yeah, maybe I should have saved that $3,500 for black cigars, strong drink and loose women. Drat! My A7M III offers up really good images. The A7CR has an improved sensor. Noyes, what were you thinking?

Sony cameras are widely considered unsuitable for M lenses, especially older lenses intended for film. There are, however, a number of Voigtlander E mount lenses that use the optical formulae of their M mount lenses, but optimized for the Sony mount and digital sensors in general.

 

[boojum]

Sony cameras are widely considered unsuitable for M lenses, especially older lenses intended for film. There are, however, a number of Voigtlander E mount lenses that use the optical formulae of their M mount lenses, but optimized for the Sony mount and digital sensors in general.

I have an A7M III that I have shot older M lenses on but not critically. I will try them again. Tape at 11:00. M lenses do work very well on the X2D. Sonnars cover the entire X2D Sensor. Downside on the X2D: electronic shutter.

 

[Oren Grad]

FWIW, the team over at phillipreeve.net has done many reviews of M-mount lenses on A7 cameras, often including controlled tests showing clearly the optical effect of the Sony sensor stack. For just one example:

Review: Voigtlander VM 35mm 2.0 Apo-Lanthar - phillipreeve.net

Index page here:

Leica M and M39 - phillipreeve.net

 

[Archiver]

I have an A7M III that I have shot older M lenses on but not critically. I will try them again. Tape at 11:00. M lenses do work very well on the X2D. Sonnars cover the entire X2D Sensor. Downside on the X2D: electronic shutter.

In 2020, there was a (presumably) Chinese photographer working alongside the dragon and lion parade for Chinese New Year in Melbourne. He had a silver chrome MP with curved wooden grip and red softie, and some kind of Sony A7 series camera with a Voigtlander 50mm f1.1 VM mounted on it. I'm guessing he found that setup acceptable for his needs. But I've tried numerous M lenses on my Panasonic S5 with varying results, and the Sony cameras reportedly introduce even more issues, so there's that.

 

[boojum]

"FWIW, the team over at phillipreeve.net has done many reviews of M-mount lenses on A7 cameras, often including controlled tests showing clearly the optical effect of the Sony sensor stack. For just one example:

Review: Voigtlander VM 35mm 2.0 Apo-Lanthar - phillipreeve.net

Index page here:

Leica M and M39 - phillipreeve.net"

In 2020, there was a (presumably) Chinese photographer working alongside the dragon and lion parade for Chinese New Year in Melbourne. He had a silver chrome MP with curved wooden grip and red softie, and some kind of Sony A7 series camera with a Voigtlander 50mm f1.1 VM mounted on it. I'm guessing he found that setup acceptable for his needs. But I've tried numerous M lenses on my Panasonic S5 with varying results, and the Sony cameras reportedly introduce even more issues, so there's that.

These bad luck with M mounts on Sony bodies is interesting. There is a fellow who tests M mounts on a Sony A7 body as his test setup. I can see Reeves'problems doing it. This gets confusing. I'll see what happens when and if I try it.

Thanks for all the feedback.

 

[shawn]

The Sony sensor stack tends to impact wider lenses more. It causes more field curvature which makes the sides smear. Sometimes effected normal lengths too depending upon the design of the lens. The Summilux 50 is supposed to suffer from more field curvature on the Sony. The exception to this would be newer wides designed for mirrorless. The VM 15mm f4.5 III worked great on my A7RII.

This is the VM 21 f4 and Kobalux 21mm f2.8 on a Sony @ f4 in the corner.

and on a M240

An additional problem is most adapters (for any system) are a little too thin. The result on that is any lens that has floating elements tends to work less well adapted. A parafocal zoom won't be if the adapter is off. When possible I shim my adapters to get the distance accurate.

 

[Rangefinder M-P]

Maybe the battery is available here: Leica BP-SCL2 Lithium-Ion Battery Pack (7.4V, 1800 mAh) - Leica Camera Shop

Good luck.

Mike

 

[Oren Grad]

These bad luck with M mounts on Sony bodies is interesting. There is a fellow who tests M mounts on a Sony A7 body as his test setup. I can sEe Reeves'problems doing it. This gets confusing. I'll see what happens when and if I try it.

Thanks for all the feedback.

This may also be of interest:

Rangefinder wide angle lenses on a7 cameras - problems and solutions

Good luck!

 

[JeffS7444]

You guys must all be incredibly bored with nothing to do other than keep restating the obvious fact that, right now, batteries for M240 and M10 models are not available for sale in the USA. I think we've all heard that.

You got that right, welcome to the club! Feel free to disregard the topic if it displeases.

 

[boojum]

This may also be of interest:

Rangefinder wide angle lenses on a7 cameras - problems and solutions

Good luck!

I see the testing is done with the series II A7's and wonder if the series III A7's have corrected this problem. For me the Zeiss 55mm f/1.8 and the Sony/Zeiss 24 - 240 pretty much do all I want so I do not have a big need for retro lenses on the A7M III but do have an adapter. It is worth some poking around to see just if and how bad the distortions are.

 

[Godfrey]

FWIW, the team over at phillipreeve.net has done many reviews of M-mount lenses on A7 cameras, often including controlled tests showing clearly the optical effect of the Sony sensor stack. For just one example:

Review: Voigtlander VM 35mm 2.0 Apo-Lanthar - phillipreeve.net

Index page here:

Leica M and M39 - phillipreeve.net

I had a Sony A7 body for about two years and used it with a variety of Leica lenses. It performed reasonably well with M lenses from 50mm and up, acceptably with 35mm, and relatively poorly with 28 mm or shorter. Its performance was much improved if I stuck with Leica R lenses, at which point even the Elmarit-R 19mm f/2.8 worked acceptably with it, and anything longer was very good to excellent.

However, as soon as I obtained another M body (the M-P typ 240) and fitted the exact same lenses to both in order to do some comparisons, it was obvious that the Leica sensor stack and lens profiles produced significantly better results across the board, at all focal lengths, with both M and R series lenses.

G

 

[shawn]

I see the testing is done with the series II A7's and wonder if the series III A7's have corrected this problem. For me the Zeiss 55mm f/1.8 and the Sony/Zeiss 24 - 240 pretty much do all I want so I do not have a big need for retro lenses on the A7M III but do have an adapter. It is worth some poking around to see just if and how bad the distortions are.

I don't think Sony has really changed the sensor stack thickness much in any of their successive cameras. Some other mirrorless brands tend to have thinner stacks than Sony.

 

[boojum]

I don't think Sony has really changed the sensor stack thickness much in any of their successive cameras. Some other mirrorless brands tend to have thinner stacks than Sony.

OK, thanks.

 

[Archiver]

I had a Sony A7 body for about two years and used it with a variety of Leica lenses. It performed reasonably well with M lenses from 50mm and up, acceptably with 35mm, and relatively poorly with 28 mm or shorter. Its performance was much improved if I stuck with Leica R lenses, at which point even the Elmarit-R 19mm f/2.8 worked acceptably with it, and anything longer was very good to excellent.

However, as soon as I obtained another M body (the M-P typ 240) and fitted the exact same lenses to both in order to do some comparisons, it was obvious that the Leica sensor stack and lens profiles produced significantly better results across the board, at all focal lengths, with both M and R series lenses.

G

How very interesting that the R lenses worked better adapted to a Leica M body than a Sony A7 series camera! R lenses are on my (embarrassingly long) list of things to acquire for work, and I plan to use them with my Panasonic S5 for video primarily and stills secondarily.

It seems a universal conclusion that M lenses work best on a M body - second best seems to be the SL series cameras, which is one reason why I'm seriously considering a SL2S for M lens stills and video. The S5 is okay, but I suspect the SL2S will be better in terms of image quality and focusing with the EVF. With your observations regarding R lenses and the M240, maybe the SL2S will handle R lenses better than the S5, as well.

 

[Godfrey]

How very interesting that the R lenses worked better adapted to a Leica M body than a Sony A7 series camera! R lenses are on my (embarrassingly long) list of things to acquire for work, and I plan to use them with my Panasonic S5 for video primarily and stills secondarily.

It seems a universal conclusion that M lenses work best on a M body - second best seems to be the SL series cameras, which is one reason why I'm seriously considering a SL2S for M lens stills and video. The S5 is okay, but I suspect the SL2S will be better in terms of image quality and focusing with the EVF. With your observations regarding R lenses and the M240, maybe the SL2S will handle R lenses better than the S5, as well.

Well, remember that when you use the Leica R Adapter M, it tells the body that you're going to use R lenses and the body then offers lens profiles that help correct the R lenses properly for use with the M body. 🙂

I bought up a whole bunch of R lenses after the R system was discontinued about 2009 ... they were going for dirt cheap prices then. I've kept about five of them that I use for tabletop and macro, mostly, and sold off the dozen or so others in 2019 for about triple what I paid for them. They're truly excellent lenses, and worked very well on the A7 and then the SL, and what I have left works very well on the M10-R and M10 Monochrom as well. They even work remarkably well when adapted to the Hasselblad 907x/CFVII 50c, albeit that most of them show some vignetting and light fall-off on the 33x44 mm sensor.

The ergonomics of the R lenses fit my SL typ 601 much better than M lenses. Given that they were designed for an SLR system, they are more consistent in aperture ring and focus ring placement than the M lenses are.

G

 

[cboy]

Check this out:

Another issue about this day and age - Planned obsolescence. And here I thought about theyre trying to be environmentally responsible such as packaging; getting the consumer to be minimal and not needed more tech leading to ultimately less camera body throwaways. All of that 'timeless' BS. Yeah timeless paperweight

 

[Ko.Fe.]

Pixii Max is using NP-FW50, cheap and plenty battery for many ... Sony cameras. 🙂
Maybe it more practical alternative for M without batteries replacement than A7 Series.
At least it is FF RF, not a EVF brick like SL series with another batteries in question.

But I'm subscribed to one person with A7 original and bunch of RF lenses, on Flickr.
Doesn't look like a big issue with this combo for street photography.

 

[Archiver]

Another issue about this day and age - Planned obsolescence. And here I thought about theyre trying to be environmentally responsible such as packaging; getting the consumer to be minimal and not needed more tech leading to ultimately less camera body throwaways. All of that 'timeless' BS. Yeah timeless paperweight

I'm watching a fascinating documentary on Netflix that addresses this very issue. It's called Buy Now, and it discusses how platforms like Amazon make it ridiculously easy to purchase things, how expensive goods like mobile phones, tablets, laptops and earphones are made with obsolescence and disposability in mind, and how people consume vast amounts of unnecessary mass produced items. The documentary also talks about 'greenwashing', the appearance of a company caring for the environment through meaningless recycling symbols and the use of of the colour green in packaging. Meanwhile, the electronic devices can't be repaired by third parties.

 

[JeffS7444]

I'm watching a fascinating documentary on Netflix that addresses this very issue. It's called Buy Now, and it discusses how platforms like Amazon make it ridiculously easy to purchase things, how expensive goods like mobile phones, tablets, laptops and earphones are made with obsolescence and disposability in mind, and how people consume vast amounts of unnecessary mass produced items.

Thanks for the heads up, I'm due to rotate out of Prime Video and TV+, and back to Netflix to catch up on stuff I've missed, including Squid Game!

But while I think Leica is playing the scarcity + exclusivity game, I don't particularly blame them for planned obsolescence, because things like a lack of M8 LCDs and M9 sensors, are beyond their control, and I'm guessing that APS-C and the S-system were lost causes. But as long as enough people are still paying their premium for those batteries, they may as well keep delivering, because this is as close as it gets to camera-as-a-service subscriptions.

Apple on the other hand, they talk a good talk, even hint that you will live a safer, healthier, richer life if you just stick with their program. By itself, this message might be met with cynicism and eye rolls, but when you've got an audience looking for any excuse to buy something new, it might be just the tiny push they need. IMO, they still haven't come up with a convincing case for Apple Intelligence (or why I should upgrade my iPhone 11 when it's not that old), but give them time.

Me, I still acquire too much stuff, but I can't get too carried away due to lack of space, and my gut tells me that by the time stuff overflows into basements, attics, enclosed garages and storage units, it's simply going to rot.